Lady Lendale is celebrating her 80th birthday at her castle in Yorkshire. In reminiscing to her biographer, Sir Percy, she recalls that many years before, while known as Louise, she left her job as a laundress in Corsica for employment in a Paris brothel. There she met the one love in her life--Armand, a thief and an anarchist. Together they went to Switzerland, where Armand became involved in a plot to assassinate Prince Otto of Bavaria. While expecting Armand's child, Louise posed as a widowed countess in a hotel in Nice, where she tried to rob Lord Lendale. Though he knew all about her, Lord Lendale was so anxious to have a wife that he offered to save Armand from the police in return for Louise's hand. Since she had replaced the bomb that Armand planned to toss at Prince Otto with a dummy, Louise accepted the marriage offer. She later joined Armand in Italy and, for a while, supported his anarchist activities with her husband's money. Eventually she tired of his useless plans and went to England to assume her responsibilities as Lady Lendale. As she concludes her story, Lady L startles Sir Percy by telling him that she continues to see Armand and that all of her children are his; she married him in Switzerland, she says, and Lord Lendale consented to an arrangement whereby Armand remained both her husband and lover while posing as the family chauffeur.